Happy Halloween!

Nothing like a finger in a bento box to say Happy Pumpkin Day! I wish I had pictures of someone actually eating the finger. That's scary.

Free Boo-rito, Happy Halloween

Today's To Do List

Make and wear tin foil hat.
Go to Chipotle, between 5pm and 8pm.
Stand in line.
Order free burrito.
Go home and eat burrito.
Chase those damn kids off your lawn.

EAT the VOTE for FREE

As if you needed more reasons to vote in the most important election in our lifetime, there are lots of fun places places to go after you pull the lever on Tuesday. Krispy Kreme is offering free donuts to folks who wear their "I Voted" stickers. And Ben and Jerry's is offering a free scoop of ice cream between 5pm and 8pm. Chik-a-fil-a offers a free sandwich. If you're not hungry, you can always go to Missouri, and get something pierced for free.

Freaky Freekah-three minute meal

Don't know if you've checked out the latest Trader Joe's Flyer, but there's some great stuff. One of the newest items is Freekah, which according to the flyer, Trader Joe’s Fully Cooked Greenwheat Freekah is durum wheat, the variety used to make pasta, harvested when it's young. I'm not a fan of brown rice. I keep hoping it's an acquired taste that I'll grown into, but it's not happening. But Free-kah is another matter entirely. It's delicious, less nutty than barley, less earthy than lentils but more flavorful than rice.

Here's the dish we stumbled on at the glorious sample table yesterday. I came home and made it for dinner in three minutes flat. Yum.

One package of Free-kah
One package of fresh Pico-de-Gallo salsa
One package of no-meat, chicken strips
Package of tortillas, or chips
Sour cream

Optional... avocado, olives, corn.

Warm the Freekah for 90 seconds in the microwave. While you toss that in a bowl with the salsa, heat the chicken-less strips for a minute or two and then toss that in the bowl. Serve on a tortilla, or with chips, and a dollop of sour cream. Lunch!

Carve away...

Cool link on carving three-D pumpkins on the link above. I love pumpkins. I love their big fat shape. I love the seeds. I love the pumpkin dish served at this fabulous Thai restaurant. I love how, once a year friends and neighbors feel compelled to carve up great big orange squash and stick them on their porches with candles. It's really silly and who doesn't need silly? Another great site with cool pictures and ideas can be had here... Send me pictures of your pumpkins!

Diwali!

I'm so excited because we get to celebrate Diwali tonight with some friends at a neighborhood Indian restaurant. This is the kind of thing I live for. It's exactly why I live here instead of um... anywhere else, aside from London or New York, where you can have a similar experience. The only thing I knew about Diwali was the episode of The Office when the whole office staff troops off to Kelly's family party. You can watch a clip here. I did a little research and found these notes on BBC's site. (See below.) How cool is it that black-eyed peas are traditional for the New Year in the southern states and in India? The celebrations include lights and fireworks, so I'm going to take a box of sparklers.


First day of Diwali: sheera - a warm fudge-like sweet made with semolina, saffron, cardamom, raisins and nuts - is eaten alongside a spicy black-eye bean curry.

Second day: Some Hindus fast all day, and break their fast at sunset with lapsee, a warm sweet porridge of cracked wheat, sugar and clarified butter.

Third day: kheer - a milky pudding made with rice, rice flakes or sago - is accompanied by spicy urid lentil vada (fritters).

Diwali and New Year's Day : Most Indians eat vegetarian food during Diwali, and mixed vegetable curries made with as many varieties of vegetables as possible (which represents year-long bounty), including whole pods of fresh green black-eye beans (which represent longevity) are especially popular. A huge assortment of sweets is an absolute must. Diwali day is spent feasting with the family, and New Year's Day, visiting all the friends and neighbours. Generous quantities of food is offered to guests, and one is expected to eat everything that's offered.

Plucked?

Did you know parrots are edible? Check out the post linked above to Miz Murphy's blog, a fabulous read.

Yes on Prop 2 in California, California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act

The editorial below is from the NY Times on October 9th. If you're reading this, you've probably heard of Michael Palin, know about organic versus not and have some idea about the state of food... but just in case you've missed it, read below for a full picture. Now to be clear, I still eat meat. I eat cheese and eggs and everything. When I was a kid I chased cows on my aunt's farm. I corralled them when they got out, I hauled hay and liked being around them. But I also grew up in kitchens, big, big kitchens with chefs who use food like painters use colors. I was a vegetarian for five plus years and try not to make it a daily habit. I generally stay away from pork, don't do veal or lamb and try to make a deliberate choice when I eat meat. Eventually, I think I'll find myself a vegetarian again... but either way, it's hard to stomach people treating animals in a way that I wouldn't be able to take if I were five feet away. So big Yes on Prop 2.

EDITORIAL
Standing, Stretching, Turning Around

The goal of the California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act — Proposition 2 on the state’s November ballot — sounds extremely modest. It would ban the confinement of animals in a way that keeps them from being able to stand, sit, lie down, turn around and extend their limbs. The fact that such fundamental decencies have to be forced upon factory farming says a lot about its horrors. We urge California voters to pass Proposition 2. We urge every state to enact similar laws.

Americans are becoming increasingly aware of how and where food is raised. With that should come real concern. The mantra of industrial farming has always been efficiency, but efficiency has come to mean a pregnant sow — millions of them — confined in a gestation crate barely 2 feet wide and only as long as she is. It means veal-calves rendered virtually immobile in crates barely large enough to contain their bodies. It means endless rows of laying hens kept in battery cages so small that the birds cannot even stretch their wings.

No philosophy can justify this kind of cruelty, not even the philosophy of cheapness. Proposition 2 will not just improve the square footage available to these suffering animals. Reducing the concentration of animals will also help reduce the water and air pollution created by factory farms. It will also begin to redress the imbalance between small farmers and the huge corporations that have acquired vertical, and fundamentally anti-competitive, control over the meat industry.

To a California voter still undecided on Proposition 2, we say simply, imagine being confined in the voting booth for life. Would you vote for the right to be able to sit down and turn around and raise your arms?

Buy Me Some Peanuts and... Oh, forget it. Let's go eat pie.

We decided to splurge on tickets to game five, to celebrate our wedding anniversary... but uh, in case you didn't know, it wasn't a banner night. Bummer night maybe. There were a couple of omens. I forgot to confirm with our beloved babysitter, Carley so we had to scramble at the last minute, and we were stuck in the parking lot when the first pitch (and home run off the first pitch happened...) We got to our seats and there was a woman sitting in one of them and she was... asleep. Fast asleep. Head back. Snoring. The real deal. I've been to games all over the country. I've seen a perfect game, a no-hitter, a season opener, season closers, playoffs, series, you name it... I've seen fights, sing-a-longs, fireworks, celebrities and run the bases. When I was 11 years old I ran after Sparky Anderson to get his autograph. But that's the first time I've ever seen someone sleep at a game. Thankfully the row in front of ours was open and we sat in the one. She slept for about three or four innings. I tried to take her picture a couple of times, but she woke up and gave me the dirtiest look. And then the game. (Sigh) So what do you do when your team eats it, Nomar waves good-bye to LA and you have to watch the Phillies fans wet themselves over their victory? You drown yourself in pie at Phillipes. Coconut Cream Pie. G had blueberry and pickles on the side. Somehow I feel like Joe Torre owes me dinner. I guess there's always next year.

Easing into Fall... Carrots, Mint and Soups

I'm such a huge nerd. I can get excited about the smallest things. The other day I saw a guy at the gas station with an ACME Oyster Bar t-shirt from New Orleans and I was sucked back into an awesome memory of sitting at the bar, watching the shuckers work their magic. Today I was making soup and found a jar of bay leaves I didn't know I had, happy, happy, happy. I can't wait until the leaves fall on my maple tree and I can scoop them into a pile for A to jump in and then stuff them into my new compost. I'm actually excited about that. I know. Me=HUGE nerd.

Lately, we've been getting piles of carrots from the co-op. When I had a surplus before I took them to A's school and fed the bunny. But the family who had him over the summer decided they couldn't part with him, so we are bunny-less. I decided to make my own version of this carrot soup with mint that Greg and I had at the Old Hunter's Lodge in England a couple of years ago. I roasted the carrots with olive oil until they were soft. Then I used my handy dandy hand mixer to chop them, adding more olive oil and mint. Check out the result. Yum. We've also had a huge surplus of butternut squash. I overdid it when A was a baby and she will avoid it at all costs, but when I roasted it, cubed it, added broth, sage, ginger and sauteed onion... then I used that Magic Stick to puree everything. Add a little cream and voila, she ate a whole bowl of the stuff. For my bowl I drizzled a little red pepper puree and chipotle salsa. Couldn't be easier.

Gumbo and Biscuits

So like everyone else in the country...
Wait, lemme check CNN online...
OK, I'm back... Make that everyone in the world, I'm a little worried about my finances. I'm a spoiled American who loves a good latte, is snobby about chocolate and eat (almost) whatever I want, whenever I damn well please. I really mean it when I say spoiled. Occasionally, I'll think whoa... we've got to buckle down spend less money and I'll make a concerted effort not to spend as much money at Target. I'm a conscience consumer hear me roar, "No. I refuse to buy that tenth set of PlaySkool Little People." Wow, I'm practically Ed Begley Jr.

So, I'm not Paris Hilton either, but I could do more. One way is to eat out less often. On that front, I made gumbo for dinner last night. Part of the haul from the Zantarain's folks. I get how gumbo became the dish because you can open the fridge and toss in whatever is leftover and it will be absorbed by the fabulousness of the gumbo. I had okra, green beans, squash, leftover (fake) chicken strips, carrots, celery, onion... tossed it all in.

Then because I don't really love cornbread, I made biscuits. I used Scott Peacock's recipe as a template and butchered the heck out of it. I replaced the lard with vegetable oil, buttermilk with whipping cream and they still came out tasty. Today, I think I"ll actually try them again and make them his way, except without the lard. I haven't worked up the courage to cook with that yet. I need to brave my local mexican market for a small hunk of it. I will do it though, because I like the idea of making biscuits the way my grandmother did and I suspect they will be mind-blowingly good. In either case, butchered or not, they took 10 minutes to throw together, ten to roll and clean up and ten to bake--almost as quick as the kind out of a can. While I work on my recipe, check out Scott Peacock's advice on the subject.

Hungry Deck... Pick a Card

I got this cool Hungry? Deck in my stocking for Christmas last year. It's a deck of cards, each from a local restaurant in LA. Local being so relevant...Century City, Malibu, Encino all being "local"... so we haven't made the best use of it. I'd love to share the cards with my friends. Here's the list of restaurants, if you think you'll use one of the cards, email me and I'll get it to you so you can enjoy $10 off before December 31st! (I'll let you know if we've already used the card, or plan to in the near future.)


Bella
Blue Star
Café Beaujolais
Café Marco
Casey’s Irish Bar & Grille
Chili My Soul
Clementine
Coffee Zinio Café
The Courtyard
Dish
Dolce
Ebizo’s Skewer
Elena’s
El Tarasco
Enterprise Fish Co.
E3rd
Figtree’s
Geisha House
The Griddle Café
Guelaguetza
Howdy’s Taqueria
India Sweets and Spices
J Restaurant and Lounge
Ketchup
KP’s Deli
Larkin’s
Mario’s Italian Deli and Market
Michelangelo Pizzeria
Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs
Nick’s Café
Nyala
Opus
Ozzie’s Diner and Grill
Paru’s Indian Vegetarian
Pitfire Pizza Company
Pizza Next Door
Prizzi’s Piazza
Pueblo Viejo
Red Pearl Kitchen
Saddle Ranch Chop House
Sante La Brea
Shan Restaurant
Springbok Bar and Grill
Spitz
Sportsmen’s Lodge
Spring Street Smoke House
Sunnin Lebanese Café
Tiara Café
TiGeorges.
Tops
Uncle Darrow’s Cajun Creole
Weiland Brewery

Real Hope

Click on the link above and just try not to smile... Thanks Paula!

Wordle

Here's the last blog in wordle...which is so fun. Thanks Eric for the turning me on to this new obsessive toy. Who knew there was a font called "Grilled Cheese"?!

Cinnamon Rolls, Not Just for Breakfast Anymore

Wow. My friend, Susan brought over a big ziploc bag of starter dough. I love presents like that. She said, "Here make some rolls for supper...." We sort of took it from there and decided to make cinnamon rolls. I've always wanted to make pretty rolls for breakfast/ brunch events. We live close to the parade route and every year on New Year's Day have a small crowd for breakfast before strolling down to watch all the idiots who slept outside, I mean... the parade. Anyway, we let the dough rise, bough raisons and plumped them in hot water, rolled out the dough on cold flour, buttered it, layered on a bowl of warm water, powdered sugar and a ton of cinnamon. It was A's job to shake it in and she did it well... We poured the sugar over the dough, rolled it. Susan then showed A the magic trick of using dental floss instead of a knife to cut out the rolls. We poured another layer of butter, sugar and cinnamon into the bottom of a glass pie pan and then squeezed the cut rolls next to each other. I put them in the oven for about half an hour at around 300 degrees and voila... They were a little over-risen and got kind of big and fat. I can't wait to make them again. The bonus is that they make the house smell FANTASTIC. I'm a little bummed this time of year, the time change is pending, baseball is winding down, football is winding up. But I'm ready to welcome fall with open arms when the place smells like cinnamon. Here's a recipe for you to try...

What is that ungodly smell? Politics.

My friend Augusto created these fabulous stickers/ trucker hats/ shirts. You might want a couple to navigate the next couple of weeks. Click on the link above to order your very own...

Don't miss this article in the NYT's today... The Steamy Way to Dinner

Who could resist this? I LOVE Bibimbop and it never even dawned on me that we might be able to make it at home!

"Cooking foods other than rice in a rice cooker is like baking a layer cake in an Easy-Bake oven: best approached with patience, curiosity and something to snack on in the meantime."